Lords of Hell, update history

Fresh Development

This page lists development news and latest fixes on Lords of Hell card game. Only the current versions (including board game) are tracked here.

6th Edition (2006-)

(21.6.2007) Cards to be fixed: Retribution (M, +M per lost supremacy?), Inbalance (hand cards not inbalanced?), Warped Time (typo: keep only hordes/artifacts), draw more?, Double Cross (one event only), Furnace of Souls (S->M only if no S victory), Loophole (support), Crystal Ball (too weak), Staff of Undead (complex and too weak), Tome of Power (too weak also)
General rules: if no tabled things at the start, get 1 random? More targeting to be able to control things a bit more (Devil targeted bury, alliances, etc.)

Major idea of reworked system: (ideas from 5th edition)

Draw phase (3 cards, +1 per horde less than 3 on table)
Action phase
Supremacy (as before, but one by one and in Alliance, non-leader gets -1 VP)
Discard (to 3 tabled hordes and one artifact)

Action phase: turns one by one, in realm order. In first player turn, play to max 6 tabled cards (but can always play one). Played cards are shown at the same time and then handled one by one from left to right.
Then on subsequent turns, either play 1, 2 or 3 cards (again, ordered), or fold. When folding, Devil can trade basically anything and can ally. After that Devil is Frozen and its tabled cards cannot be affected (unless noted especially otherwise) until end of this phase. If the Devil later on trades anything from or to its table or becomes a Leader in an alliance, it is unfrozen and returns to play. If another Devil trades its alliance to folding Devil, that other Devil becomes Frozen and the active Devil continues. (note: alliance counters can only be moved from owner to target, or together with such a counter, unless some card states otherwise)
When all but one has folded, phase immediately ends. This means that each Devil gets at least one turn but not necessary any extra.

Card changes:
Main deck: Bury targeted (single horde), Vortex (all non-allied non-frozen rituals or one sanctuary), Artifacts (Wand of Might, Soul Stones, Staff of Undead: +1 P/S/M, Crystal Ball: choose discard afterwards, Tome of Power: in draw phase, discard 1 to draw 1) (10 cards)
Asmodeus: (+P) Ancient allegiance, Leviathan? (1-2 cards)
Mephistopheles: (+S) Diabolic Advisor, Graverobber, Furnace of Souls, Steal Power, Whispering Call, Loophole? (6-7 cards)
Baalzebub: (discard any hordes in discard phase) Insect Fiends?, Realm of Flies, Double Cross, Recycle, Cloud of Flies?, Inbalance, Thief in the Night, Quarrel? (5-8 cards)
Mammon: (in draw phase, if has exactly 3 tabled hordes, draw +1) Diabolic Smith, Looter Fiends?, Pit Fiends, Retribution?, Bribe Troops, Drunken Agreement?, Forced Agreement, Greed?, Bought Alliance (5-9 cards)
Belial: (+M) Infernal Slaver, Forge, Ritual of Torment, Silence, Soul Torment, Tortued Obedience (6 cards)
Lilith: (in draw, discard 2 non-ritual to draw 2) Diabolic Fiends, Chanter Fiends, Ritual Advisor, Succubi, Infernal Plague, Warped Time, Diabolic Seduction (7 cards)

(17.4.2007) Possible generic rule change: choose last card after other cards revealed? Oath scoring maybe not ready... Card changes (possible): Staff of Undead - to keep extra card (current too much choice - slow), Wand of Might: revert to win all ties (too weak..), Tome of Power: too weak?, Infernal Slaver/Diabolic Advisor: no time limit, other rules..

(9.4.2007) Edited cards: Diabolic Advisor (M), Steal Power (M), Faithful Followers (M), Warped Time (L), Leviathan (A), Vortex of Magic, Silence (B), Infernal Slaver (B), Loophole (M). Added Herder Fiends (M), moved Diabolic Smith to Mammon.
Mammon and Baalzebub initially ready.

(2.4.2007) Rework of turn sequence and card game play, some cards changed. Most special cards moved to personal decks.

Older changes not tracked here. The 6th version was started Fall 2006 but all the first real games were 2 player games which are not tracked in the statistics page.

History

This list is more like retrospective look to development of older versions. As all the development effort is done to latest version, this is mainly possibly intriguing history lesson.

5th Edition (2005)

(26.12.2005) Recycle edited (Baalzebub and Mammon)

(9.10.2005) Renamed 'rarity dot' as 'power dot'. Alliance as one dot card and can be discarded when you retreat. Ancient Allegiance and Diabolic Seduction one dot cards, Wand of Might and Tome of Power upgraded, Devil Torture back to older form. Strengthens Lilith, Asmodeus and Mammon a bit, downgrades Diabolic Graverobber.

(25.9.2005) Card changes: Drunken Agreement, Devourer.

(21.9.2005) Removed refresh action, resumed discard. Modified Young Rage, Warped Time, and Magical Duel. Rules in English.

(14.9.2005) Modified Warriors of Darkness, Bribe, Insect Fiends, Thief in the Night, Sanctuary, Retribution, Vortex of Magic, Greed, Ancient Allegiance, Steal Power, Diabolic Seduction, and deck of Mephistopheles and Lilith. Also removed possibility to discard cards instead of starting a conflict, and when retreating and some Devil offers an Alliance card that card must be taken if allies with that Devil.

(12.9.2005) The fifth version is going great and is soon translated to English. Most cards are already illustrated, but still approximately 20 pictures are still missing and some older need fixing.

(7.9.2005) During elimination turns, the Devil must achieve one more power than the current leader. If the weakest is tied, the Devil with Home Realm of highest value goes first. Victory points revised. Glasya renamed as Lilith.

4th Edition (2004)

Open Issues (end of 2004):

Too few Souls moved?
Good cards once drawn, kept onward?
Sanctuary: weak protection (see army strength) - Fix: more prot? Army strength?
Vote: no reason to use before end. Fix: used each turn? - Problem: discarded votes
Trading? There is not that much trading - maybe get extra cards which must be discarded later on? (Draw 8, table hordes, discard 4 after trading phase?)

Fixed issues (14.11.):

No ritual-timed politics, remove that phase from the game
Combat favor: as horde, gain alliance or safety. As special, spoil
Forces: as horde, 2 cards. In combat phase, 1 horde of target's choice.
Diabolic seduction: trading phase
Thief in the Night, Treacherous Troops, Lake of Boiling Blood, Valley of Wailing Souls, Steal Power: new version
Baalzebub: clarified
Leviathan: discard 4 cards, not half

New card: Diabolic Strike (replaces Authority, 1 non-agrresion pact, 1 recycle)

Fixed issues (12.11.):

Initiative: once first, always first. Fixed (back to old: Souls used to determine order)
Non-aggresison pact: as horde only
Steal Power, Forced Agreement, Mammon: clarifications

Fixed issues (10.11.):

Souls: do not matter that much. Fixed (vp at the end)
Souls: too many. Fixed (all halved at the end of the game turn, no extra Souls from VP difference)
VP differences. Fixed (last one gives extra votes)
Favors used up last turn. Fixed (tie-breaker)
Recycle: too powerful. Fixed (cannot table immediately)
Soul stones: stupid. Fixed (extra strength points)
Steal power: too much luck. Fixed (target chooses, what to give. Also +1 card, replaces one Conjuration)
Infernal Plague: not good. Changed (destroyes all of one type instead)

Little card fixes (nobody notices): Forced Agreement, Truce, War Preparations renamed as Extra Invasion, one extra Forge (instead of Furnace of Souls)

Fixed Issues (31.10.):

Juggernauts: timing problems etc. Fixed (new version)
Drunken Agreement: hand show slow. Fixed (new version)
Devil powers: discard again and again. Fixed (when discarded, removed from game)
Asmodeus power card: a bit bad. Fixed (upgraded)
Mammon power card: unclear. Fixed (clarified)
Alliance leader power not to fight. Fixed (anyone in the alliance can force to invade, leader has just the first choice)
Spoils: large alliances too bad. Fixed (all must pay for the spoil in alliance)
Artifacts - some more powerful than others. Tome of Magics expecially 'infine artifact': Fixed (tome of magics downgraded)
Lost Souls (in combat): too much. Fixed (lose only half)
Mephistopheles: power weak. Fixed (gain combat Soul shares instead)
Groundwork: luck - get it or not? Fixed (no more groundwork, other politics instead, get one bet per game turn)

Other changes: Belial (both cards). New politics. Bet on itself always 1 victory point. New cards (Truce, Authority) and more old cards (Non-Aggression Pact, 2x Recycle). High Palace not VP.

Older Versions

Refer to appropriate game rules and pages.